Graduation season: a moment of before and after that is traditionally commemorated with a speech. Three of those commencement addresses seem to have made some noise this year and it is possible to detect a narrative thread running through them.
First, a teacher in the wealthy Boston suburb of Wellesley told his soon-to-be-former students that they were “not special”. He suggested that life’s challenges should be embraced, not for the potential to be the victor, but because overcoming obstacles is what living is all about. Or, in the more eloquent words of teacher and speaker David McCullough: “Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.” Saving the succinctness for the end, Mr. McCullough repeated that the graduating seniors were not special for the simple reason that “everyone is”.
Graduates of Tufts University heard the words of humanitarian and Navy SEAL Eric Greitens. In choosing a soldier, Tufts honored itself by inviting a speaker who had not become famous through personal ambition, but instead through sacrifice and service in the name of a collective and greater good. Greitens did not disappoint as he delivered a message about the value of individual effort as a contribution to community.
Speaking before his alma mater, author Michael Lewis spoke about fate’s twists and turns. He argued that the difference between success and failure is often a combination of personal attributes and simple luck. While we all have a degree of control over the former, the latter is, as Machiavelli also believed, a question of Fortune’s spinning wheel. However, Lewis differed from the Italian predecessor of realpolitik by pointing out that those who have basked in luck’s glow “owe a debt to the unlucky”.
In arguing against individual exceptionalism, posturing for sacrifice in the name of community, and transforming the bounties of luck into help for the unfortunate, these speeches reflect a refreshing humanity that contrasts with the individual greed that seems to have permeated the news during the last months. Congratulations to the graduates. It is time to get to work as part of a world that needs the help of every selfless educated hand it can get.
First, a teacher in the wealthy Boston suburb of Wellesley told his soon-to-be-former students that they were “not special”. He suggested that life’s challenges should be embraced, not for the potential to be the victor, but because overcoming obstacles is what living is all about. Or, in the more eloquent words of teacher and speaker David McCullough: “Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.” Saving the succinctness for the end, Mr. McCullough repeated that the graduating seniors were not special for the simple reason that “everyone is”.
Graduates of Tufts University heard the words of humanitarian and Navy SEAL Eric Greitens. In choosing a soldier, Tufts honored itself by inviting a speaker who had not become famous through personal ambition, but instead through sacrifice and service in the name of a collective and greater good. Greitens did not disappoint as he delivered a message about the value of individual effort as a contribution to community.
Speaking before his alma mater, author Michael Lewis spoke about fate’s twists and turns. He argued that the difference between success and failure is often a combination of personal attributes and simple luck. While we all have a degree of control over the former, the latter is, as Machiavelli also believed, a question of Fortune’s spinning wheel. However, Lewis differed from the Italian predecessor of realpolitik by pointing out that those who have basked in luck’s glow “owe a debt to the unlucky”.
In arguing against individual exceptionalism, posturing for sacrifice in the name of community, and transforming the bounties of luck into help for the unfortunate, these speeches reflect a refreshing humanity that contrasts with the individual greed that seems to have permeated the news during the last months. Congratulations to the graduates. It is time to get to work as part of a world that needs the help of every selfless educated hand it can get.
